Protecting Agave Americana over winter question

Joly_Roger

Hi,
has anyone here managed to successfully overwinter an Agave Americana outdoors in the U.K.?

I mean away from the coasts as I know that coastal regions, especially in the South West, don't receive the extremes of cold that inland gardens do due to the temperature buffering effect of the sea. However, I'm in the M25 & faraway enough from London to be out of it's city microclimate.


I had a smallish Agave Americana which died in the winter just gone, despite the straw (no surprise given how cold last winter it was). But now I've got a very large Agave Americana (maybe 3 foot high and wide, vicious spikes), which I'm told should be more hardy and able to cope with lower temperatures.


I've read that keeping the plant dry is key to it's survival over winter (turgid cells expand and burst in sub zero temperatures, similar to freezing pipes).

So I wondered if I should:

A. Attempt to make a waterproof cover for the Agave Americana to keep it dry and thus better able to cope with the cold. An old umbrella erected when rain or snow is forecast might just be large enough to do the trick.

B. Dig in lots of gravel around the plant to help drainage.

C. Cover with straw (but this could be counter productive due to sealing moisture into the soil).

D. All of the above?

E. Anything else?

Thanks in advance :cool:

fiddiwebb

Agave parryi is supposed to be the most hardy for growing outside in the UK.

To be honest I have never tried Agave's outside mainly because I live in the extreme North of Scotland !

I think if you can provide some sort of covering against rain/snow, drainage and also plenty of air circulation round the plant (don't cover with straw), I wonder if dry bracken would be better as is is more open or should it be covered at all?

Maybe some fleece over the top for frost protection.

eckythump

we had one in our last home and my husband made a teepee out of bamboo and bubble wrap(the very thick type) it had a small gap at the base.
we also dug in gravel/sand to help the soil drain.